Lerato is not only beautiful, but she is a fighter for her Etwatwa community

Lerato Sibisi

Her own erratic upbringing, devoid of meaningful role models and a compass for the future, but laden with self-hate and uncertainty, has prompted Lerato Sibisi to act decisively and play a part in ensuring that the lives of today’s youth are given direction and meaning. She does not want them to suffer from the same fate as she did when growing up.    So, today she runs an NPO that seeks to fortify the resolve of kids in her township of Etwatwa in Benoni, east of Johannesburg.  In this candid interview with Thembi Masser she extolls the objectives of her organisation and how keen they are to overhaul the dire situation of so many depressed and miserable kids who grow up unsure of what life has for them.

Lerato, 31, is the chairperson and the chief co-ordinator at AimHope, an NPO she started many years ago but which was only registered early this year. She says the registration did not happen earlier only because she did not find time to do so. There are a thousand and one things for her to do in her life and it was somewhat difficult to pause for a few minutes and register the organisation.

She does not only display an array of an excellent brains, but her looks have landed on stage and in the pages of glamour media and Lerato, or Lee as she is affectionately known in her circles, is a fashionable model at Rachel Modelling Agency.

Lerato, fourth from left, at the Miss Face of Daveyton pageant

But, as a community member in a township riddled with gang warfare and rampant teenage pregnancy and unemployment, Lerato decided to roll down the sleeves of her blouse and forfeit her make-up in order to knuckle down and shape the destiny of learners and kids who roam the streets blindly. 

Lerato says in her schooling days…

*Her uniqueness was questioned by society, and this made her uneasy

*She was raised by a single parent

*No matter how smart she was there were hindrances

*There were no scholarships, no bursaries

*She studied humanities at school because she loved the arts but that proved to be a futile consideration as that did not open opportunity doors for her

*An emphasis was put on proficiency in maths, thus rendering other studies useless

So she formed AimHope to lead the fight against youth apathy and to inspire her community. “We aim to right so many wrongs and maladies we see bedevilling kids in our townships these days. We want to turn the lives of so many of them into a celebration, an achievement and a success.”

She is the organisation’s chairperson. And she is also its chief co-ordinator. As a co-ordinator she organises resources for their events so that these events become successful and so achieve their objectives. She also plans events or work on a brief from the events’ managers and planners. “Event managers ensure that the events go well and that co-ordinators follow the script and to achieve a great result.”

But when she in not in the board room Lerato becomes busy with learners and community members, discussing the intricacies of life with them. “My passion is in tutoring these learners, offering them an opportunity to beef up their self-confidence and dignity.”

She is amazing

Many of the learners have no clue what the future holds for them, she states. Many of them, she adds, are blindly just going through the motions of living a false life, pretending to be learning at schools while the truth is that they are not sure what they are doing. She thinks they are not aware of an opportunity what that is, being given the chance to learn, to be educated and to build a future with like-minded people. “It is a tragedy, really,” she remarks, aware that a lot of learners go through school only to be unemployed for decades in their life times. “The prospect of life is doomed for many of today’s kids if the situation is not turned upside down for them.”  

These kids, she points out, indulge in sadistic activities like Satanism and gangsterism and a whole lot of nonsense you see today, like fascination with drugs and loveless teenage relationships founded only in fornication. “Our kids are adept in the ills that have no promise for the future, they attracted to ills that offer only instant flesh gratification. And that is where the unseen danger lurks. This misplaced gratification gives them a false sense of self-actualisation when that is that just an illusion.”

This situation is fatal, morbid and troublesome, she points out. “We need to turn things around if we are to save the world from a disaster. At present, so many of these learners are not mentored, nurtured and given a coaching in life skills. Even some schools are guilty of not looking properly after their learners,” she says. One of the reasons she thinks contribute to the malady is that teachers are overloaded with work and have to deal with too many learners, resulting in the former failing to know their learners better. “Maybe overcrowding of learners in classes has something to do with it, making it impossible for teachers to have a proper one-one-one with learners in order to establish rapport between them.  A proper relationship between them should happen if teachers are to light the flame of hope for leaners to inspire their desires, their aims and goals, dreams and fantasies.

“And there are plenty of educational problems to deal with. Many learners struggle with comprehension and have difficulty with learning and with education. Illiteracy is a dark worm that threatens to destroy our children’s ability to deal with education. Maybe teachers need to go beyond teaching; they need to go into the learners’ background and built strong relationships with them. Maybe teachers need to use the kids’ peers to help explain concepts and then maybe again try to use different teaching and tutoring methods. I don’t know,” she shrugs, “but something ought to be done differently if we want to have future leaders who are educated and proficient in meaningful skills of life.”

So AimHope runs these tutoring classes to help learners to think and see themselves as future leaders. And Lerato says she has seen a noticeable change in the behaviour of learners she has interacted with since the NPO’s inception. “In the last two years I have sat down with close to forty kids to give them a pep talk about their life styles and that has given me immense strength to soldier on with our objectives.

“I empower them,” she says emphasises earnestly. “I want them to be on their own and to think on their feet and hit the ground running. AimHope aims to enrich every one of them, from grass-roots and up to the end of their lives. Every young person must be informed and must have direction. And, let me add, a community that is active and aware and is involved in the upbringing of their children helps built a better nation.”

AimHope recently held their first beauty pageant for female learners, the Miss Face of Daveyton for young school girls who, Lerato hopes, will become ambassadors in both their schools and communities and be an inspirational hope for the hundreds of young people who meander through life aimlessly and desperate.  

Fact File

Nonhlanhla Ntombela, board member and artist

Board of directors at AimHope are:

Lerato Sibisi (model) - chairperson

Nonhlanhla Ntombela (musician, artist)-deputy chairperson

Lebohang Sithole (student at Benoni Technical)-co-ordinator

Blessing Sambo (high school learner) -co-ordinator

Thato Sekgoele (student at the University of Johannesburg)-marketing officer

And the volunteers are:

Rosa Masemula

Noms Roberts

Bonolo Masilela

An AimHope tutoring class in process 

Learners come together for wise words at AimHope

A volunteer from AimHope busy at work

Lerato recruiting contestants for the Miss Face of Daveyton pageant which AimHope organised recently in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng 

Lebohang steals the show at the Miss Face of Daveyton

Ntombikayise Nkosi impressed at the Miss Face of Daveyton

Lebohang Dladla was crowned the Miss Face of Daveyton as two HB Nyathi High School learners walked away with top beauty honours. The event, held at the John Wesley Community Centre in Etwatwa, was a glitzy affair which attracted the attention of the who is who of the town.

The winners of this glamorous affair walked away with an array of prizes and Lebohang, a grade 9 learner from HB Nyathi High in Daveyton, was ecstatic about her triumph.  One of her prizes gives her a chance to be part of the successful Afreedom modelling agency.

The director of AimHope, the organising NPO of the event, and also the event’s co-ordinator,   Lerato Sibisi, was buoyed by the success of the pageant. She said her organisation organised the pageant to celebrate the young lasses and to instil self-confidence in their minds. “We believe that each of them is unique, so events like these are the right platforms to groom them to become models of the future, both in occupations and in their way of life,” Sibisi said. She added that the ladies are role models of the future and they should start to play that role as early as now.

On the night of the pageant as many as 15 ladies displayed their beauty on stage in the quest to win honours and Lebohang romped home amid the razzmatazz that accompanied the stylish beautiful ladies.

“I want to thank the many sponsors and donors who assisted us in making the event possible,”Sibisi remarked, indicating that Noni Nhlapo from Zhuri Studios and Afreedom modelling agency were generous with their time, products and equipment.

Ntombikayise Nkosi (grade 11) and Ntsako Malese (grade9), from HB Nyathi High and Ashbury High schools were the first and third princesses respectively. 

A contestant goes through her paces

Ntombikayise Nkosi, second princess, Miss Face of Daveyton, Lebohang and Ntsako Malese, 3rd princess 

Competition was fierce but cordial

 That pose

Lebohang shows her class

 Elvira Maphosa

Smiling for the cameras

Smart, beautiful

Some of the contestants on a modelling session 

All confident smiles

Determination

Rebecca Martins from Afreedom modelling agency, third from left, and Rachel Thanks with the winners 

Noni Nhlapo from Zhuri Studios, second left, Lerato Sibisi, fourth left, and the winners

The crowing jubilation

After the event

 On a modelling assignment

Its or nothing for them

All confidence

The search for the Miss Face of Daveyton in the process

                                                                                                                                 Pictures supplied by Zhuri Studios

Learners in Daveyton given the seeds to life

The Co-Operative, Governance and Tribal Affairs (COGTA) organised a holiday programme for the learners of Lekamoso, Vesukhono, Mpengesi and Barcelona schools in Etwatwa, Daveyton.

The programme was designed to help learners cope with the rigours of education and life, considering that they reside in one of the troubled areas in Etwatwa. various life skills practitioners addressed learners. Captain Ramothakhi Maqabe from the Etwatwa SAPS advised learners as did David Lephoto.

the Department of agriculture gave learners seeds to plant at home and gave a rousing lecture on the advantages of agriculture in developing nations.

Nthabiseng Chabeli gave them yoga and meditation dances while facilitators from Atleha Educational Workshops partnered with COGTA to ensure the event became a success.

COGTA and Atleha plan to run the workshop again in October and are keen to implement it through the province of Gauteng in the coming years.

Below are the testimonies of the leaners who attended the workshop. 

LINDOKUHLE MAZIBUKO

LINDOKUHLE MAZIBUKO

Grade 8

Lekamoso Secondary School

Greetings. My name is Lindokuhle Mazibuko. I am going to tell you what I have learnt. I have learnt that in life I have to be successful.  Without education there is no success, but first let me tell you what is success. Success means an achievement of your goals and desires.  

The effects of having not having education are:

Poverty

Poor health

Poor sanitation

No values

The four steps to success are:

Plan

Organise

Lead

Control

Now I done with success I am going to tell you about friendships and relationships.

Bad friendships

It is when bad friends always make you to do bad things, for example:

Smoking

Drinking alcohol

Dating

Good friendships

Good friends that always make you t do good things like, giving you good advice, helping you to achieve your goals; I have learnt that in life I have to have good friends and not bad ones.

Now I am going to talk about hobbies.

Entertainment hobbies

We do in our spare time, for example

Drawing

Playing netball

Watching movies

Cooking

Etc.

Money hobbies

These are the hobbies that we do to make money

Thank you

XOLISILE KAMBULE

XOLISILE KAMBULE

Grade 8

Lekamoso Secondary School

I would like to thank the department of agriculture and rural development, the department of co-operative and traditional affairs and the department of education for giving me and others this opportunity to get information and knowledge about what is happening in our world.

I would also love to thank facilitators for giving us their time to hear the little voices of our cry  to be listened to by the world and for giving us the courage and belief that we can make South Africa a better country too.

From the first day I have gained so much that I am sure that the information will help me in the future sooner or later. I have learnt a lot about relationships and friendships of how some might lead you to the right and some to the wrong way.

Prosperity and peace make you think of what you did in the past and what can you do to change and to keep reminding yourself of what you want to do in the future.  They keep reminding you of what you want to achieve in life. Sometimes you can find yourselves in deep trouble because of different types of pressures or find yourself even quitting because of them. And I learnt about myself, who I am, and that I should know that I am not better than the other person, no matter what. I have to love, I have to be kind and care for everyone and everything that I see. And I should protect them too. I have to think about other people to before I start to do anything. I have to take care of the world, of the animals and the plants too. And as they say, I can be small but I can do great things. And another one says ‘You will learn until you die’.         

CLARINHA NTSALI

CLARINHA NTSALI

Grade 7

Barcelona Primary School

We learnt about relationships and friendships.  We also learnt about success and peace and also steps to success, which are to plan, organise, lead, and control. And we also learnt about talents, making money, surviving and about our strong points.

Then we learnt about the agricultural sector. They told us about career opportunities in agriculture. There are indeed many opportunities in that sector like research, journalism, vets and forestry where they produce wood. There is also nature conservation and we learnt about equestrian farming.

NOMPUMELELO MAZIBUKO

NOMPUMELELO MAZIBUKO

My greetings to everyone.

As you all know my name is Nompumelelo Mazibuko. In this programme I have learnt a lot, even the things I didn’t know. I learnt about relationships and friendships. In friendships I leant that there are certain things we must follow, by that I mean that we must be able to choose good friends not bad friends (toxic friends) because if we choose bad friends they may be a bad influence to us by giving us bad advices. 

I learnt that it is better to be educated than being uneducated we all know the effects of not having education. The absence of education or too little of it results in poverty, crime, gangsterism, teenage pregnancy etc.

And I have also learnt the four steps to success which are to plan, organise, lead, and to control.

I learnt about extra mural activities which are the activities that are outside the walls or limits of the school, entertainment hobbies are the things that we do for fun without being paid and money hobbies are the things that we do to earn money. I also learnt about the SWOT analysis which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

SELBY MOAHA

SELBY MOAHA

Grade 9

Lekamoso Secondary School

In the first day we learnt about friendships so that we may be able to choose good friends.

We were also told to form groups of four each. Each group was given a different topic.  Mr Kabeli Lichaba, Ms Fikile Matsinye, Ms. Nthabiseng Mokgwatle and Ms Nthabiseng Rafapa assisted us on how to behave and facilitated the topics on how you can make money in your future when you have grown.

We also did some yoga, which was really fun.

Some of the other topics we dealt with were on discovering our talents, what re our strong points, how to let you hobbies make you money. Other group activities included topics on poverty. Ms Manyitse, also gave us two words and we were supposed to write a paragraph on each word. My two words were mistakes and failure.

Then we were people who come to educate us about something we knew nothing about. They were from the department of agriculture. Many of the things they said were so unfamiliar but it got better as they trolled along. Did any of you know that there people who are specialists on horse farming and were called equestrianism? And he also told us where you can study agricultural 

Mr Kabeli asked us to write our strong points down and so we learnt about the SWOT analysis. And how can we I forget the food we ate all week?  On day one we ate the delicious slices, and on day 2 we had samp, gravy and meat, mmm…so mouth watering, and the following day we feasted on rice, meat, cabbage, chakalaka, and juice.

So we had fun in the development. It was like we were   family but indeed we are a family.

Thank you

THANDO BUTSHINGI       

THANDO BUTSHINGI  

Grade 8

Lekamoso Secondary School

I learned a lot about friendships and relationships and peer pressure when it comes to friendship.  I have learned the four steps in order to be successful which are to plan, organise, lead and control.

I have learned about extra mural activities (things which I do when I am not at school) money hobbies (these are things I do and will earn me money), entertainment hobbies (things I do for fun) and I have learned about educational hobbies.  And I have discovered new things regarding reading. I learned about agriculture and that there are careers in agriculture like researchers, journalists, animal health technicians, agricultural engineers, forestry, nature conservationist and equestrianism.

I was taught to discover my strong points and how can I use these to make money and also to survive.

BUHLE PHIRI

BUHLE PHIRI

Phandimfundo Secondary School

I learned a lot from you guyz (sic). You have made me learn about right and wrong things in life so thanks guyz. And you have taught us about making new friends in life and other things. If you join drugs and if your friends are the drug dealers so you have to choose right friends in life. So thanks for every moment. I have enjoyed spending time with you guyz. Thank you very much sis Fikile and Atleha Educational Workshops and you have made me realise that building grudges against other school learner is not right at all. But I feel bad that today is my last day of seeing you guyz but I want you guyz to know that I love you so much. THANK YOU!!       

TSHEPO NHAMABANGO

Grade 9

Lekamoso Secondary School

I learned about toxic relationships and friendships. And I learnt about good ones that help you grow as an individual.

We also did yoga because it helps my body to relax and have self-confidence.

We also learned about stress and depression and their causes. I was taught to respect everyone, young and old. We also did a phrase that says, ’My mind is like a pearl, I can do anything in the world’, and a prayer that helps a lot.

We also did some exercises and games and we had some fun doing it. I also learned that as a child you can do mistakes but must never repeat the same mistakes. We were taught about agriculture and all the careers it offers. And the importance of it, that everything comes from the soil.

We also learned about SWOT and what we want to be and if that career does not succeed you have to have a back-up plan.

ZANELE DUBE   

ZANELE DUBE  

Grade 7

Dumehlezi Primary

Things that I learn these days! I learnt many things. And things that I learnt on first day are how to build relationships and the following day we learnt about how to use our hobbies, things that I do that I do when I am not at school or at church my talents. Things that I do and give me money, like hobbies that will give me money in the future, like for example entertainment hobbies I do for fun.

And my strong points.

Steps to success.

I have a learnt a lot thank you.  

SMANGALISO SAMBO

SMANGALISO SAMBO

Lekamoso Secondary School

I now know which relationships and friendships are toxic.

I must be in a friendship circle with friends who push me to do my home work at all times.

I also know what my talents are; playing football, singing with people in group, talking too much etc. I know how to use my hobbies to earn money; playing football, opening a magwinya shop, car wash. To be successful you have to plan, organise, lead and control.

My strong points:

Cooking, I can be a chef at a restaurant.

Playing with peers.

Good in team work-project manager.

Help people where I can.

Can walk a long way.

Go with my home language (Zulu).

I would like to say thank you to the Atleha Educational Workshops.

WANDILE DLAMINI

Lekamoso Secondary School

I learnt that you must know what you want in life and to see yourself achieving your dreams.

The people who visited us want to make our future better and to see us become successful.

They told us many things: if you to achieve in life you must not depend on someone and if you need anything to change to do it yourself, and educate yourself.

Education is the key to success, if you want to achieve in life you must get education.

There are things that they taught us to plan for our lives, to have confidence, to know your career path and the other thing we learnt is to be always positive in choices.  

SANELE VILAKAZI

SANELE VILAKAZI

Grade 8

Quantum Secondary School

Hi everyone, here are the things I learnt this week:

We learnt about relationships.

We ere taught how to communicate with other people.

We learned about which subjects you are going to do in grade 10 because they will affect your career-and your life style.

I choose to be a doctor because I want to help people.

We learnt about the life that you choose the life want to live.

In life you have to choose if you want to be a gangster or a good man.

We learned about my strong points:

I master soccer

I master drawing

My talent:

I am talented in swimming

I have talent in drawing

Making money:

Drawing

Making jokes

I can survive without:

Running

Singing

Agricultural advisor came to tell us about:

To advice farmers

Plants have disease

Many things are made from the soil

Agricultural researchers

Which elements are needed?

Agricultural engineers

Agricultural journalists

Agricultural animal help with technical

Forestry

Fisheries, nature conservationists 

PRINCE SKOSANA

Grade 8

Lekamoso Secondary School

This programme taught me about life’s experiences, about the challenges we face and still going to face in our future.

It also taught me to make good friends and how to avoid toxic relationships.

Taught me signs of a person who wants to commit suicide and how to deal with stress or depression.

And I learnt two new terms that are respect and defeat.

I learnt four steps we have to take in order to achieve our goals.

It taught me the importance of agriculture.

I also figured out my talents and hobbies.

The opportunities I can get using my strong points.

Thank you

VONANI KHOZA

VONANI KHOZA

Grade 8

Lekamoso secondary school

What I have learnt on this programme is that:

I have to discover what challenges I will face in life and how should I prepare for when things becomes to get tough.  And  I must not stop until I get what I want.

And if you want to be successful you should choose good friends so that they may help you reach your dreams and goals.

And the in life they are four steps you take in order to be successful.

It taught me how to deal with stress.

It taught me the importance of agriculture.

I have also figured out my talents.

And what I learnt on this progress can help me achieve my goals.

HLONIPHILE DUBE

HLONIPHILE DUBE

Grade 8

Vezukhono Secondary School

I learnt about types of relationships and friendships at home, school and in the community.

We have different kinds of relationships with other people, like family relationships, relationships with friends, romantic relationships and relationships with other people in the community.

Friendships are based on your right to choose who you want to be friends with. And often they are led by a common interest.

Family relationships are based on family roles and identities.

And we learnt about careers.

And we learnt about what are effects of poverty on me:

No education

You start making bad things

You don’t have good friends

Effects of failure:

 Poor education

No success

Your goal will be destroyed

BRANDON NDLOVU

Grade 8

Lekamoso Secondary School

I have learnt about relationships and friendships.

A relationship is an interaction between two or more people who share something or advice or love. 

And then a friendship is the relationship between two or more people sharing advices and trusting and loving each other

What I learnt is this: We must choose good friends so that we can share good advices with one another. There are many people who may make you do wrong things-peer pressure. Sometimes it may be due to that he/she was taught by his/her parents when he/she was young to be the way the way they are.

What I have learnt is that as students we must prepare for our future before we are tempted by peers. We must keep our dreams in our hearts and feel so. What I have also learnt is that as students we must perform well at school.

What I have learnt is that in order for me to excel and reach my goal I need to plan, organise, lead and control so that I can see things that I am not good at and things that I am good at and things that are similar to the career I want  I want to do.

I learnt about the careers of agriculture and its importance.

KHANYA MATSINYE

KHANYA MATSINYE

Grade7

Cuno Helderwyk School   

I was absent on the first day but everyone told me that they discussed team work. Team work teaches us to interact, to collaborate and to communicate with others.

We learnt about prosperity. It is broken up into different versions. We also learnt that we must plan, work and arrive.

We also learnt about peace.

 We also learnt about SWOT analysis.

ZANELE DLAMINI

ZANELE DLAMINI

Grade 9

Lekamoso Secondary School

When I grow up I want to be a doctor or a nurse because I can communicate with people and I am brave. I am also patient and I have a passion for nursing. One day I wish to change my community, especially the pollution.

From the 9^th of July up to the 13^th July 2018 a winter school holiday programme was held here at our school. The community development workers of Etwatwa under the supervision of Ms Fikile Matsinye came together and facilitated this programme.

I learnt about relationships and types of relationships. I also learnt how to identify bad friends and toxic relationships.

I also learnt about prosperity. They taught us about failure, which is the inability to achieve.  We dealt with the effects of failure which among others, include, crime and less job opportunities.  

We also dealt with what you want to be when you are successful.      

Plan, organise, lead, control

I learnt about extramural activities e.g. writing poems. And I also learn about our entertainment hobbies e.g. singing in a church choir.

People

I learnt about SWOT analysis which I was writing my two strong points and the group I was tell me where will be qualified for a job.

And I also learn about agriculture.

Agriculture is about advising farmers.

Agriculture researchers. They can research plant disease or fertilisation of the soil.

Agricultural engineers. They can design milk machines and meal machine etc.

Agricultural journalists. They only talk about farming and produce magazines

Animal health technicians. They take care of sick animals and inject them so that they can be healed.

Protecting nature

Forestry. They produce big trees to make wood for tables.

Equestrianism.  They study on horses which are specialists

Nature conservationists. The y conserve nature to always being protected and this reserves have been scorpions to protect animals especially rhinos.